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I used D-rings on the center part that goes through the cod piece & leather belt keepers on the inside leg extensions. The leather strap is held in place by these things. I think they may be called post hole keepers but I am not 100% sure. Anyway, they push through the hole and are threaded to fasten the strap securely. I also used these on the holster and where the rear strap meets the belt so they swivel & are not locked in place like they would have if I had used rivets.

In another thread there was talk of using the rubies holster as a template. I have yet to see these in person so I don't know how accurate they are. I may pick up a set just for that purpose, at least it will give you some type of base to start. Anybody got these already?

I was also thinking of making the pouches one large container great place to store Radio shacks voice amp and other things. I don't know if that is possible but it was a good thought.

Don't be afraid to break up the radio shack amp. The housing is probably a little too big for the pouches, but you can easily take the cover off. Then you can place the amp in one pouch, the speaker in another (just extend the cable).

This may sound trivial, but how does everyone attatch the little metal part on the gun belt (the one that connects to the two straps from the holsters) to the cod? I have used industrial Velcro because I want to keep the pieces separate. The obvious way is to bolt or rivet the metal piece to the cod; but anyone have suggestions on a way to make them not so "perminent"?

If your making belts/holsters, you need to go with a saddle weight leather, no less than 10 oz. Can't help ya with the templates yet tho. The rubies holsters may provide a decent template. If anyone has em, seam rip'em, scan em, and let us have em.

I found the ball stud closures at Heritan Leather which used to be affiliated with Tandy, so you could try Tandy. I don't have a holster pattern. Each component is slightly different from one to the next due to the irregularities present in a natural material. Just form your holster to fit a 1 1/2" dia dowel & cut to length depending on the type of the pistols you use.

It may not be a heavy enough weightfor the true realist, but a good source of cheap leather which is relatively easy to work with is to hit the thrift stores, and look for a leather coat which is the right shade of brown. If you can't find the exact shade, you can get close enough and change the color with shoe polish. I got two coats- a longish brown one which supplied more than enough leather for the pouches, belts, and holsters; and a charcoal grey one which I cut and restitched into a vest. They were $4.99 each.

I have a question for anyone who thinks they can help out. That little silver piece in the front of the belt that the holster belts connect to just below the braided belt. Any suggestions on how to make it?

I used a aluminum shingle from home depot- .39 cents! I cut it to shape with metal shears, folded it over making the bottom piece longer and attatched it to the belt. its metal and looks good. works too!

I made my own Boba belt, which was pretty easy, it took a few nights to get it right, but was well worth it. I'm also going to make my own for my Jango, and on the upside, it should be easier (except for the holsters). Jango has 7 pouches with no stiching and rounded ends. The pouches are 13" long 2 1/2" wide strips of cowhide. They wrap around the 3" wide belt blank till they are 4" high, and only the two end pouches have any kind of sides to them.
Find a Tandy leather store, get some hide, dye, and some tools to smooth out the edges and your set. All that should be less than $100.